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Massive energy waste seen in idle servers
New York (UPI) Oct 21, 2009 Servers that do nothing are responsible for massive energy waste and adverse increase in the carbon footprint of their owners worldwide, a new study warns. The independent study by 1E, which advises organizations on reducing their IT costs and environmental footprint, said its findings showed that a staggering 4.7 million servers globally are doing nothing useful, wasting $25 billion a year. Three-quarters of server managers polled for the study said they believe one-sixth of their servers are not doing any useful work, causing wastage of energy and cash resources and affecting the owners' carbon footprint. The study was conducted by Kelton Research, which has offices in Los Angeles and New York, in association with the Alliance to Save Energy, a Washington-based non-profit coalition of business, government, environmental and consumer leaders. "Contrary to popular belief, one of the largest causes of energy and IT operational waste in data centers are servers that are simply not being used," said 1E CEO Sumir Karayi. "The savings from decommissioning non-productive servers cannot be ignored. Organizations need better information on server efficiency and more effective ongoing server energy management," he added. Eighty-three percent of server managers polled told the survey they do not have an adequate grasp of server utilization, and 72 percent admitted they rely on CPU utilization as their measure of server efficiency. However, the study points out, a CPU is busy -- consuming energy -- irrespective of whether the server is providing a service to the business or doing routine maintenance tasks that provide no business value. Three-fourths of the managers surveyed for the study said their employer's mandate to deliver high levels of IT service internally got in the way of measuring and improving server efficiency. "With U.S. data center energy consumption at an all time high, it's only logical that we reconsider how we are using IT resources," said Kateri Callahan, president of the Alliance to Save Energy. He pointed out that an "unnecessary" number of data servers remained plugged in 24 hours a day in an age when power-saving tools are available to businesses. Faced with a fast-moving regulatory environment, including the U.S. climate bill, pending EPA data center initiatives and the upcoming climate talks in Copenhagen, the U.S. IT sector may soon be under greater scrutiny for its power consumption, he added. Callahan said it was important to "stay ahead of the curve and make smart, energy-efficient changes where we can." Share This Article With Planet Earth
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Industrialised nations' CO2 emissions rose in 2007: UNBerlin (AFP) Oct 21, 2009 Carbon emissions by industrialised nations increased one percent in 2007, a "worrying" rise ahead of a crunch climate summit in Copenhagen in December, the UN climate agency said Wednesday. Emissions in 2007 by 40 industrialised countries with reporting obligations under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) were around four percent below 1990 levels, the Bonn-based UN ... read more |
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